Nicky English has started the defence of Tipperary's All-Ireland well. He had identified the maintenance of appetite as the main challenge facing his team. In that he has been perversely assisted by the misfortune of a lengthy injury list.

Going into the match against Clare a fortnight ago, most sceptical focus was on the fact that the champions were short a third of last year's team. In the end, that proved a useful bulwark against the pressure of having to face very familiar opponents over whom Tipp have held the whip hand recently.

In the dressing-room afterwards, it was impossible not to be impressed by the earnest motivation of Conor Gleeson and Noel Morris, both of whom had come into the team as replacements and both of whom had played their best championship matches for the county.

Facing into this tightly-matched re-run of last year's Munster final, the question for the champions has to be to what extent can they maintain the hunger shown against Clare and more importantly to what extent can Gleeson and Morris reproduce the form of two weeks ago.

Whatever about Morris, whose first start was against Clare, Gleeson has struggled in the past to establish that consistency. Tipperary will also be up against a different centrefield. Ciarán Carey and Stephen Lucey will be a more constantly mobile pairing than Colin Lynch, and even to an extent, John Reddan, proved.

One of the imponderables about Limerick is that they have been closeted away since an unsatisfactory end to their National League campaign when Kilkenny beat them in the semi-final. In the weeks leading up to the start of the championship a year ago, Eamonn Cregan and his management used the time to send out a team unrecognisable from the one that had been rolled over by Clare only six weeks previously.

It may be that they will be quickly out of the traps and exert pressure on Tipperary from an early stage. This year Limerick are more settled with less potential for surprise, but if they can reproduce some of last year's early Munster form, they will rattle the champions.

Doubts remain about the challengers. Their forwards last year dissipated opportunities to win the match. Ollie Moran and Brian Begley - up to that point their best forwards - were eclipsed on the day. Mark Keane, who went on a scoring spree against Tipp in the league, has yet to prove himself at this level. Owen O'Neill looks a bit of a retread at this stage, but has had some good days against Tipperary and has shown good recent form.

In a defence looking steadier for Joe Quaid's return, it's hard to imagine that Stephen McDonagh won't switch at some stage with Damien Reale so that their respective powers of pace can be appropriately matched with Eugene O'Neill and the already prodigious Eoin Kelly.

Driven from the back by Mark Foley, Limerick will hurl with furious abandon, but the feeling here is that Tipp will do so with more calculation and in the end will probably hold on.

LIMERICK; J Quaid; D Reale, TJ Ryan, S McDonagh; P Lawlor, B Geary, M Foley; S Lucey, C Carey; P O'Grady, O Moran, M O'Brien; O O'Neill, B Begley, M Keane.

TIPPERARY: B Cummins; J Costello, P Maher, D Fahy; E Corcoran, D Kennedy, P Kelly; N Morris, T Dunne; AN Other, C Gleeson, B O'Meara; E Kelly, J O'Brien, E O'Neill. Subs: J Cottrell, S Butler, L Cahill, J Carroll, L Corbett, P Cullen, J Devane, B Dunne, K Dunne, P O'Brien, M O'Leary, M Ryan.